1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device and an information processing method which has a suitable information processing device executed as proxy for itself to create an output information from a document information in accordance with a control code constituting the document information in a network to which plural kinds of devices are connected.
2. Related Background Art
There has been conventionally no method for using a network scanner with which scanning operations are performed by a remote host device connected to a network.
Accordingly, the host device requesting a scanning operation must have fed a video image signal from a scanner connected to the host device.
Alternatively, the video image signal was transferred to the host device through the network.
When the video image fed by the scanner is printed out together with the other information, such as characters, drawings, etc., the scanned video image and the other information are usually synthesized in the host device requesting the printing operation and output to a printer connected to the network.
There have been the following kinds of data processing methods in a conventional server device.
(1) The video image data is expanded into a bit image format in the host transferred from the host to the printer through an exclusive use interface. The host takes care of all the interface operations with the network. This methods has been mainly utilized in an intelligent host, such as a work station.
(2) The host transmits only a page description language. The printer incorporating an interpreter function converts it into a bit image format, which is so called as a network printer.
(3) The device, which converts a page description language transmitted from the host into an exclusive use bit image, further transmits the image data to a printer through an exclusive use interface.
In the case that the video image information is transferred between the host and the terminal devices by controlling the printer in accordance with a video image output request or a video image input request issued from the host in the network, the host cannot have been accurately informed of any kind of facts, which may cause malfunctions of the terminal device, that the power switch of the terminal device is off; that there occur some errors in the terminal device itself (i.e. a cover is opened); the terminal device (mainly a scanner) does not adequately set papers at the predetermined position and papers from a paper feeding device are jammed at a feeding path.
Further, colour terminals utilized in these kinds of server devices are relatively expensive in price in comparison with monocolour terminals and interface devices utilized to make an interface with the host are extremely expensive in price in comparison with the monocolour terminals.
In addition, data must be abstracted in transmission of a colour video image.
This means that video image data requires a encoding procedure; character data requires a coding procedure and graphic data requires a vectorizing procedure. These procedures can realize the data to be described in a form independent on the output terminal device by abstracting a document and video image data as much as possible thereby eliminating the data amount.
In the receiving side which receives the data described above, the interface device utilized for converting the above described data into a bit image data most suitable for each receiving device will become complicated and expensive in price.
However, under the circumstance that the colour terminal devices are utilized, since each of the devices has been very expensive, one set of the colour interface device and the colour terminal device has been employed in correspondence with each host computer so that a switching device could not be commonly utilized.
Moreover, in the video image terminal devices, since a printed state information at the time when the error occurs has not been administrated in case that a print job is temporarily interrupted due to a print error, the interrupted print job could not be normally restarted after the other printing procedure was performed and the error was recovered.
Therefor, in the case that the print job would be restarted after the error is recovered, the already printed information must have been reprinted, thereby delaying the print processing time and causing wasteful paper consumption.
In the server device, which controls a plurality of video image terminals, when one video image terminal interrupts the printing operation at the time when an error occurs and stays in a waiting mode until the time when the error would be recovered, the other video image terminal would be impossible to be utilized so that the printing operation itself cannot be interrupted, which causes a problem that the video image terminal device cannot be efficiently utilized.
The conventional video image terminal into which a communication function is incorporated executes the scanning and printing functions in accordance with an access input order from the host to each video image terminal devices.
Accordingly, when the printing operation which requires, for example, long time to proceed is conducted, then it must be necessary to wait for a long time even though a quick video image input were required, thereby impairing an efficiency of the video image terminal device.
In general, a shorter time is required for the video image inputting than that for the printing.
Nevertheless, if the preceding job, i.e., print job, were executed at the time when a user inputs instructions of request for video image input and the host computer sends the above instructions to the server device through a communication line, then such the instructions must be waited until when the proceding print job would be completed, which impairs an efficient operation of the terminal device.
An abnormal condition of each terminal devices cannot be adequately informed to the host so that an operator of the terminal devices cannot respond for a long period after the request for video image input was issued and cannot even be aware of the occurrence of troubles.
Further, since a printer connected to the server device of the type described above incorporates a special purpose bit image converter, it cannot be well operated if a printer which is not dedicated for the server device would be connected thereto.
In this case, there have been widely utilized as the dedicated special language for the printer the post script made by Adobe Inc. and PCL language made by Hulet-Packard Inc.
If a printing operation were executed under the circumstance that the print language received from the host and the control language of the printer connected to the server device are inconsistent with each other, the print job will wait until the time when the troubles are released or will lapse without being executed, which may compel the users to wait for long time who don't care whichever printer is used and desire to obtain the printing output earlier or to do a complicated operation for another output request to the other printers.
Further, if some kinds of errors, for example, paper jam occur during the print job period under the control of the terminal device which executes scanning and printing functions activated in accordance with a paper read instruction or a document video image output instruction from each hosts connected to the prescribed network, the errors have been notified to the host computers or the print job has been terminated so that the print job must have been restarted after the recovery of the printer in which such the errors were caused even though the other printers in which the similar print job can be executed are available in the system.
As described above, the conventional error treatment cannot, flexibly respond error by error so that the requested print job or scan job cannot be efficiently processed.